Less than a week after Jones’ decimation of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, the focus has shifted lightning-fast to not only the next contender to the light-heavyweight crown, but the next contender remotely qualified to match the brilliance displayed by the new champ.

A little more than a month ago, Davis agreed to vacate a bout at UFC 129 with Jason Brilz for a headlining spot on UFC Fight Night 24 against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC). A big opportunity, no doubt. But since Jones rattled Rua’s bones, Davis’ fight has taken on a much greater significance. All of the sudden, the former NCAA wrestling champ is being vetted for the next contender’s slot.

That’s got to be a serious strain on Davis, who stepped in for injured Tito Ortiz. The question now is, can he ignore it enough to perform against the veteran Nogueira?

Davis said he’s aware of the hype trailing him, and he can only say one thing at this point in his young career: I’ll try.

“I think it’s an honor that people think that I’ll fight for the belt one day,” he said. “And the Lord willing, one day I will.”

But you won’t hear him making any predictions about when that day comes, and you probably won’t see him signing his name, “UFC champion 2011.”

“I don’t know,” he said when asked by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) whether he could be ready for a title shot with a win over Nogueira. “You know, I’m really not the guy to say … where I’ll fight next. Right now, I have to worry about Nogueira. I don’t get to fight him, (and) there is no title shot. That’s the most important thing right now.”

Davis certainly looks like a future force at 205 pounds, but so far, he has yet to face top-tier competition. He’s routed Brian Stann, Alexander Gustafsson, Rodney Wallace and Tim Boetsch on his climb up the light-heavyweight ladder. What’s more, he’s done it in a less than a year. Nogueira represents the most accomplished and most experienced opponent he’s yet faced.

It’s been such a fast rise that Davis acknowledged that he needs more time to develop his skills. So far, he’s been running fight camp after fight camp as his UFC career blossomed.

“I’m going to take some time off after this fight to improve my game,” he said. “For this fight, I came back definitely a little bit sooner than I wanted to. But this fight also is giving me an opportunity just to step back and look over the last four or five fights and see what I need to improve on and see what I’m making mistakes and give me a little bit of time to get myself together before the next person I’m going to fight.”

You could say Nogueira has done the bulk of his learning in a 10-year career in MMA. He’s looking to get as far as he can in the limited amount of time he has left. So he’s unconcerned about his opponent switch from Ortiz to Davis. Whatever gets him to the belt fastest is what he wants.

“They’re about at the same level right now in the division [I’m] in,” Nogueira said through translator Derek Lee.

The Brazilian PRIDE veteran said he’s worked on his wrestling to raise it to the level of his boxing, which traditionally has been viewed as his strongpoint. But when measured with Davis’ collegiate experience on the mats, it’s clear where each fighter will try to take the fight.

And if Nogueira has struggled against anybody in the octagon, it’s been against wrestlers who’ve rounded out their game sufficiently in the standup realm. He nearly lost to Brilz at UFC 114 and fell decisively short against Ryan Bader at UFC 119.

It may be too early to anoint Davis the next big thing, but Saturday’s test will show whether he’s on his way to that status.

Hardy and Johnson: Friends no more?

Teammate vs. teammate is all the rage these days, but what about pleasant acquaintance vs. pleasant acquaintance?

Co-main-eventers Anthony Johnson (8-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Dan Hardy (23-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) have crossed paths several times in Los Angeles, and they like each other. They’re not best friends. But like many fighters in the UFC, there’s a bit of shared history.

That may be why their pre-fight talk has been polite, if not insignificant. That is, until fight week.

Hardy has been poking at Johnson through Twitter, and he’s failed to illicit a response. But that didn’t stop him from having a bit of fun about the whole situation during an open workout in support of Saturday’s event.

Of particular amusement to Hardy was a Johnson Tweet mentioning Oprah Winfrey. Then there were the quips about his weight, or his apparent inability to stay trim in the offseason. Then the proclamations of what he was going to do with the returning welterweight.

“He stops being a friend, and he becomes an opponent – a victim,” Hardy said. “And that’s exactly where I’m at right now. We can be friends on Saturday night after he’s woken up, but right now, he’s the enemy.”

Johnson, meanwhile, continued to play it cool.

“I have nothing bad to say about the guy,” he said. “He’s a friend until that cage door closes. Then he’s something else. But this is our job, so we have to put our friendship to the side. But it’s worth it; he’s an exciting fighter. I’m an exciting fighter, and we’re both looking forward to this.”

Even a mention of a Hardy quip about his weight didn’t shake him.

“I like his confidence,” Johnson said. “He can say what he wants to say. I do all my talking in the cage.”

One thing the two fighters can agree on is that the fight is very unlikely to hit the mat. Both like to stand and trade. Hardy is coming off a knockout loss to Carlos Condit at UFC 120 while Johnson is back in action after a submission loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 106.

Hardy said his recent loss won’t change his desire to trade punches.

“Regardless of how the fans and the UFC view me, I feel like I’m fighting for my job,” he said. “So I’ve got to be a little smarter about it. I can’t walk forward with my head in the air throwing punches because I know he’s got power. He’s a big, strong guy.

“But at the same time, I don’t fight because I want to make money. I fight because I enjoy fighting. I only do this because I like hitting people. This is the only place I can do it without getting in trouble. If I get an opportunity to go in there and throw punches with someone, I’m going to do it regardless of the outcome. I’m here to have fun, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Johnson said he plans to do the same.

“We are going to go in there and do what everybody expects us to do, and that’s get down and throw blows,” he said. “That’s what me and him are made to do. We’re made to throw punches, and trade and give fans what they want. We’re going to bring it.”

In other main-card action, “The Ultimate Fighter 7″ winner Amir Sadollah (4-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) meets welterweight Damarques Johnson (12-8 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who steps up in place of the injured Duane Ludwig and James Wilks. Additionally, a rematch of potentially epic proportions takes place when one-time WEC contender Leonard Garcia takes on Chan Sung Jung, otherwise known as “The Korean Zombie,” in a featherweight rematch of their Fight of the Year candidate at WEC 48. Garcia earned a hotly contested split-decision victory.

Ronda Rousey’s statistical greatness has already ventured into uncharted territory – just six fights into her UFC career. Check out all the post-fight facts, including Rousey’s latest achievements, about UFC 190.

UFC champion Ronda Rousey did it again when she smashed Bethe Correia in 34 seconds at UFC 190. But after her third straight opponent tries and fails to make it out of the first minute, the world’s best female fighter needs a better dance partner.